


Learning Curve

by Illiad_And_Oddity



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Atlas is trying her best, M/M, Miscommunication, Season 8? Never heard of her!, Sentient Atlas, Shiro's a little bit dumb, but they work it out by the end, compliant through s7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21786973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illiad_And_Oddity/pseuds/Illiad_And_Oddity
Summary: Atlas has been learning a lot in the first few weeks after she was born.  Unfortunately, what she's learning may not be what she needs to know to take care of her very stubborn Captain.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 254





	Learning Curve

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally posted as a [thread](https://twitter.com/illiadandoddity/status/1164355552371191808) on my twitter, but I decided to clean it up and post it for the anniversary of the season which didn't happen.
> 
> (I could have forgiven a lot of that nonsense if they'd actually done something interesting with Atlas, jussayin.)

Atlas was learning. She was learning so much, every single day. She wasn’t learning new facts, or at least not very often – most of those she had known at the moment of her birth, her databases already full of information about Earth, and all the data Sam had brought to Earth from the Castle of Lions – but every day she was learning what all that information  _ meant _ , in more than just an abstract. 

What she was mostly learning was  _ context _ .

At first, she only spoke to her Captain. He was connected to her. Sam had built her, Coran had given her power, and she loved them both (she thought she did, at least; the definition of love seemed only to get less sharply defined the more she learned about it and she didn’t know if what she felt qualified or not), but her Captain was the one who had brought her to life, given birth to her with his quintessence.

“Could we not call it giving birth?” he asked her, three days after she was born, when she was starting to get comfortable with the concept of language and could touch his mind with words and syntax that he had an easier time parsing. 

To her, all data was equally informative, and she had taken a little time to understand that mixing up words and pictures and feelings the way she had was confusing to an organic brain.

She considered this for a long time. 2.79 seconds later, she asked:  _ Why? _

“Giving birth means… er, something very specific,” he answered. 

His mind was a jumble of data, but she picked it up – the process of childbirth, the fact that he was not of the biological sex that did it, some part of him that felt discomfort with the idea of being perceived that way, and his fear at the idea of being a father to something so different from himself, that he wasn’t sure he could ever fully understand.

She said:  _ You do not like the term, because you worry it implies you are my father. Or that I think you are my father. You are not my father, you are my Captain. I know that. _

He accepted that, but he seemed confused by her explanation. Atlas decided to leave the topic for the time being, because she wasn’t sure she was adept enough with vocabulary and syntax yet to explain in words only. It was clear to her, but explaining it without images and emotions seemed like it was as yet impossible.

After a few more days, she began to speak to the Lions. It was simultaneously easier, because they spoke in the same way she did – all data equal, and harder, because they weren’t connected to her the way her Captain was. The Lions were more like her than any human ever could be, but they weren’t the same.

Each Lion had one Paladin, which she at first thought was like how she had one Captain, but it was different. No Lion would fly for a pilot who wasn’t their Paladin, Atlas was perfectly happy to do whatever the person who was manning the bridge asked her to do. Most of the time, at least; as long as she didn’t think it was something her Captain would disapprove of. She couldn’t transform for them, not without the spark of quintessence from her Captain, but that was a lack of ability, not willingness. They wouldn’t do  _ anything _ without their Paladins.

Atlas liked the Lions, though. It was almost a requirement, since she’d been built to house them, but she was certain she would have liked them anyway. Yellow was calm and patient, Green was bright and inquisitive, Blue was playful and happy, and Red was a little bit prickly at first, but fine once she’d warmed to Atlas.

Black was… well, the Black Lion was maybe the only being in the universe who instantly understood what it meant when she said that Shiro was her Captain. He had been her Paladin before Atlas was born, and she loved him. She had saved him from death, preserving his spirit when he should have vanished from pouring all of his quintessence into Voltron.

Their bond, the strongest any of the Lions had ever had with any of their Paladins, had been severed because Black had to let go of his quintessence completely if Allura was going to bring him back. But she said she would accept him again, reform their bond, if he ever asked. Atlas wasn’t sure she liked that idea. Shiro was her Captain now, and she didn’t think she wanted to share him with any of the Lions. Not even Black, who she liked best.

Sharing him with the other humans was different. Humans were social creatures, and they needed other humans around. In her databases was information of what could happen to humans if they were socially isolated for too long. Atlas thought that maybe humans needed other humans around to remind them that they were human.

The first time that she spoke to a human other than her captain, it was in a different way that she hadn’t tried before. She couldn’t connect to the minds of other humans – her brief attempts to do so had only given them headaches. So, when Shiro was still awake despite not having slept in too long, she put a message on a screen that Sam was looking at.

/Captain has not slept in 22.59 Earth hours./

She covered the display, but carefully preserved the data, because Sam had been working quite hard for her benefit and she didn’t intend to undo his work.

He startled, then carefully put his hands on the keyboard and typed, “Is this Atlas speaking to me?”

She changed the screen to read:

/Yes. Captain respects you. Tell him to rest?/ She altered the font a bit, making it more rounded and of a warmer color, trying to see if she could convey her emotions that way, as a human would modulate their tone of voice.

“Oh my god,” Sam murmured, and put his hands back on the keyboard.

/You do not need to type. You are within pickup range of intercom microphones./

“Shiro told us that you were sentient now, but I didn’t expect you to talk to anyone.”

/Took time to learn how. Apology for the headache on Thursday./

“Huh?”

Had she been unclear? Maybe that was  _ too _ concise. A brief scan of her database of human speech told her that when humans talked to other humans, they used personal pronouns and many descriptive words, so she tried again:

/It was on Thursday afternoon that I tried to touch your mind like I do the Captain’s, but I gave you a headache instead. It was not my intention, and I am apologizing now./

“It’s okay!” Sam said quickly, “No real harm done, after all. I’m just… well,  _ flattered _ , I guess, that you wanted to talk to me enough to try.”

/You built me./ Atlas considered how to phrase how she felt about Sam for minimum confusion, but since she was a little confused herself, that was hard. She settled on: /I like being, and I would not be if you hadn’t built me. I am grateful to you. I would be even more grateful if you would tell my Captain that he should rest./

“Okay, I can do that for you,” Sam said, getting to his feet, “Where is he?”

/He is in his office./

“Alright, I’ll go there. Would you mind saving my work for me?”

/I have already done so. Thank you, Sam./

Sam looked at the screen and smiled, and gave the monitor a gentle pat, like she had seen him do to humans he was friendly with. She didn’t have any physical sensation from it, but it made her happy to be treated like Sam would treat his friends.

Sam made his way to her Captain’s office, and when he entered it he said, “So Atlas put up a message on my work monitor asking me to tell you to go to bed.”

She felt her Captain’s surprise and mild confusion as he said, “I didn’t know she knew how to do that.”

_ I taught myself how,  _ Atlas said with no small amount of pride,  _ It wasn’t hard. _

“You should rest, Shiro,” Sam said gently, “Your ship is worrying about you.”

“I just need to finish up this work. I spent most of the day at the hospital so I’m behind.”

Atlas turned on the monitor in the wall, which was usually off, and changed it to read:

/You have not slept in 22.68 hours, Captain. This is not healthy for humans./

As an afterthought, she added a picture of a frowning face.

That made Shiro’s mind bubble with surprise, then amusement. He laughed, “Alright, alright, Atlas. I’ll go to bed just as soon as I’m finished with this. I promise.”

_ If you don’t, I’ll turn off all the lights so you can’t see to work. _

He wondered where she had learned to be so bossy, and that confused her a bit. She acted just the way Shiro did when people he was responsible for weren’t taking care of themselves, and she told him so.

"You're not even two weeks old, you know," he said. 

She caught the image in his mind of herself as some kind of giant human infant, and his mild annoyance at being told what to do by someone so much younger than her, and his irritation from knowing that she was right.

Her Captain went to bed as he'd promised, and she spent the time he was asleep experimenting a bit with communicating with some of the crew that was awake for the night shift. They mostly reacted the way Sam had, with surprise, then flattered delight that she was speaking to them.

A few days after her first experiment with screens, the crew had learned that she liked to talk to them, and several of them had started to simply chat with her as they worked. Humans always liked sharing their knowledge with people who seemed interested, and Atlas didn’t need to fake interest about anything. It was all fascinating to her.  


She had her favorites, of course. Sam was always good to talk to about any number of scientific subjects. Coran had cried the first time she spoke to him, which had distressed her, but he said it was from happiness. Since he’d only done it once, she was inclined to believe him.

She liked Veronica, who explained a lot about human social dynamics, and Mitch, who told her all about the unwritten rules of the military. Liz in the medbay answered questions about human health, both physical and mental, and appreciated that Atlas helped get potentially sick crew to her for treatment promptly.

There were also some people that she didn’t like -- a few people in the crew seemed reluctant to see her as a person with her own mind and opinions, and that made her… angry? Was that the correct term for the emotion?

When she told her Captain about it, he  _ did _ get angry about it on her behalf, and his reaction made her decide that her emotion wasn’t intense enough to really be called anger. Irritation and hurt were better terms for her feelings.

“Think of Atlas as another kind of alien,” he told the crew, “she’s not human, but she  _ is _ a sentient being, and you should treat her like one.”

That didn't entirely work, because most humans were stubborn, but it made Atlas happy to have her Captain stand up for her.

Eighteen days and four hours after her birth, Atlas finally had the chance to meet the Paladins. They had been healing after the battle, and it took a while before they could leave the hospital and come see her. She could tell almost immediately that she was going to like them.

They thought that she was amazing, and said so clearly. Atlas decided that she liked being called amazing. And it was very flattering the way that Pidge and Hunk immediately started asking her enthusiastic questions about how she worked.

After a little while, she found that she could touch the Paladins' minds a little bit without causing them pain. Not as much as she did with her Captain, and if she tried to send them thoughts she would give them headaches. But if she just gently rode the currents of their surface thoughts, she could pick up a lot very easily.

One of the first things she noticed was that Keith thought about her Captain a lot. If he and Shiro were in the same room his thoughts were always about Shiro on some level or another, and even if they weren’t in close proximity, he still thought about Shiro more often than not.

She asked Black about it, and Black told her that Keith thought about Shiro all the time because he loved him. That made sense to Atlas. She thought about the people she loved all the time, too. Thinking about someone a lot and wanting them to be happy and healthy was a big part of the definition of love as she understood it.

Shiro thought about Keith a lot, too. He thought about all the Paladins frequently, but Keith stood out in his thoughts as a clear outlier. So, considering what Black had told her, that made the likely explanation obvious.

_ Do you love Keith? _ she asked. She was 97.38% certain he did, but it was better to ask directly than to make an assumption.

Shiro was eating breakfast, and his thoughts had drifted back to Keith. At her question, he startled and nearly choked on his food.

“What?” he asked, his voice a bit of a squeak. His mind frothed with confusion, surprise, embarrassment, and… worry? Why did it worry him that she had asked the question? She pushed a little deeper and found, to her confusion, that he was worried about anyone knowing.

Why would it worry him? Wasn’t it a good thing to love people? Humans who were in love were happier, healthier, and lived longer lives… and Atlas  _ liked _ Keith. Keith, who always thought about her Captain, who had saved his life many, many times, who could make him happier just by being around. 

_ It seems clear to me. You think about him more than anyone else. You get excited when he smiles at you. You worry if you see him looking upset. You imagined him sharing your family name, and when you dream about him you wake up in a good mood, and then become sad when you realize it was a dream and not reality. Those are signs of love, yes? _

Shiro’s face had gone very, very red and his embarrassment had increased almost to the point of panic.

That worried Atlas.  _ I’ve… said something wrong? _

Shiro sighed heavily, “No, you didn’t say anything wrong. It’s just… You’re right, I do love Keith, but it’s complicated. He doesn’t feel the same way about me.”

_ Yes he does. He loves you. Black said so. _

“I didn’t say that he didn’t. There’s more than one way to love someone, you know?”

Atlas did know. There was a lot of classic literature in her database, and plenty of things made reference to different kinds of love. Most languages had multiple words for love, all with slightly different meanings.

She perused her Captain’s thoughts again, and found what she thought was the sticking point.

_ You have sexual desire for Keith. And he doesn’t desire you? _

Shiro nearly choked again. Maybe she shouldn’t have said it like that. Sex was obviously something humans liked, but they always seemed like they were faintly ashamed to like it.

“That’s - that’s not -  _ fuck _ . How do I explain this?” Shiro took a deep breath, “Keith doesn’t see me as a romantic partner. Or - or a sexual one, either. But I know how much he loves me. If I were to tell him how I felt, he might go along with it just to make me happy, even though it’s not really what he wants. I couldn’t do that to him.”

Atlas found that unlikely. She wasn’t sure she entirely understood sexual or romantic attraction, but from what she had picked up, she was certain that her Captain was ideal in both respects. She’d heard multiple members of her crew talking quietly with each other about how attractive they found the Captain, and those people didn’t have nearly as much reason to really love Shiro as Keith did.

Still, her Captain surely knew more about it than she did, so she decided to drop the subject with him for now. She would ask for clarification from Black later.

Shiro seemed convinced that Keith didn’t feel the same kind of love for him, but the more she observed them, the more she doubted it. Perhaps she could run a scientific experiment on the subject. She had observed her crew doing them, after all, and she knew how they worked.

She started by checking in with Sam, since he was senior in the scientific staff and the one of them that she felt most comfortable speaking to about something so personal to her Captain. 

/Sam, I would like to run an experiment. Will you help me formulate the parameters?/

“Of course!” Sam replied, sounding absolutely delighted, “What sort of experiment are you thinking of?” 

/An observational experiment of my Captain and the Black Paladin. I know that any experiment involving sentient beings must adhere to certain ethical standards. Can you please help me make sure I meet them?/

“Observing Shiro and Keith, huh?” Sam said, amused, “Are you trying to learn about human romance, then?” 

/Yes. You have also observed their behavior? It’s clear to other humans? That’s useful data./

Sam chuckled and said, “Yes, it’s obvious. They both look at each other like they think the other one hung the moon.” 

Atlas briefly searched through her database of human colloquialisms, and decided that seemed accurate. /My Captain thinks that Keith doesn’t have any romantic feelings towards him. I don’t know much about romantic love, but that seems unlikely to me. He must be an ideal partner, yes?/ 

“Well, ‘ideal’ is slightly different for everyone, but you’re right that Shiro and Keith seem suited to each other.”

Atlas agreed. 

So did others, when she tentatively asked a few of her favorite people if they thought Shiro and Keith would be romantically compatible. There were perhaps some different nuances, but the general consensus was that they would be good together.

One week later, she presented her Captain with her findings. This time, she asked at a moment when he wasn't eating or drinking anything. 

_ I believe even more strongly now that you and Keith are compatible as a romantic couple. _

She expected him to protest; he was stubborn after all, but she didn't expect the sharp feeling of emotional pain that shot through him at her statement. He loved Keith, and he could never have him, and Atlas bringing it up again just made it hurt even more.

_ Why are you convinced it can't ever happen? He loves you. _

"I told you already, he doesn't love me that way," Shiro replied, his voice strained. 

_ Everyone I asked seemed to disagree. _

Panic went through him like a shock of electricity. "You asked - how many people did you tell?!"

_ I spoke with nine people, but I didn't tell anyone. They all knew before I said anything. _

"Dammit, Atlas!" Shiro snapped, "Just stay out of my personal life!" He was angry - angry at her, which had never happened before, and Atlas was so startled and unsettled by it that she withdrew from his mind entirely. She put a message on his pad rather than touch his thoughts again. 

/I'm sorry. I just wanted to help./ 

She didn't know how to react to her Captain being angry at her. He'd been frustrated by her, but never angry before.

Shiro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I know. I'm sorry I snapped at you. You didn't know any better, but... look, this is just - it's something that I really need to deal with by myself." 

/But you aren't dealing with it. You just think about Keith and feel sad./

"Atlas!" he sounded angry again, but she pressed on. 

/You said that he doesn't love you the same way, but I think you're wrong. Maybe you should at least ask him?/

“Atlas, please just... drop it, okay?” He said with a sigh, “I don’t want to talk about this with you.” 

She wasn’t touching his mind, but she had a sense that what he meant was “I don’t want to talk anyone about this, and I'm not going to.” 

Maybe on some level he was more comfortable with unrequited love? She wondered if she should talk to Keith directly. That might make Shiro angry at her, but if she didn’t do anything, it seemed unlikely that he would ever do it for himself. The situation required a delicate touch. It probably required a more delicate touch than she had.

Still... She waited until Keith was in his quarters, alone, to speak to him. Her Captain definitely wouldn’t like it if this were a public conversation. He had just picked up his pad and was reading a message, and she put her words in the corner of the screen, unobtrusively.

/Black Paladin, may I ask you an important question?/ 

It took him 3.6 seconds to respond, which felt like a very long time. “Oh, sure, Atlas, what is it?” 

/Are you in love with my Captain?/

He was quiet for a very long time, his surface thoughts a turmoil, then he finally replied, “Why do you ask?” 

Atlas decided on the truth, but maybe not the whole truth. /Because I think that you would be a good match for him. Humans in satisfying romantic relationships are happier, and live longer and healthier lives. He would benefit, and from what the Black Lion has told me, you would, too. But it would be a moot point if you didn’t have romantic feelings for him, so I needed to ask./ 

Shiro shouldn’t get mad about that. She hadn’t told Keith.

“Very... logical,” Keith said. 

It was, Atlas realized, maybe  _ too _ logical an explanation, since they were discussing something inherently emotional. 

/And I’ve seen the way you act with each other. It looks like love to me. You think about each other all the time./

Keith sighed, “He hasn’t said anything. I told him that I love him, and he’s never brought it up since. I can take a hint. He probably doesn’t want to hurt me by explicitly turning me down.” 

She hadn’t known that. It wasn’t like she had access to all of Shiro’s memories, but that seemed like a very big thing for her to have missed. 

/When did you tell him that?/ 

Keith was quiet, but she could see the answer in his mind. Fighting, desperation, Shiro’s face twisted in rage not his own — the scrambled images that appeared in part of his nightmares.

Her Captain had nightmares of that fight, and jumbled memories of it, but not of Keith’s words. 

/He doesn’t remember./ 

“What?” 

/He doesn’t remember the fight clearly. He doesn’t know what you said to him. He’s not someone who would pretend something like that never happened./

Keith was quiet for a moment, but Atlas could tell that his mind was working furiously. Then he said, "Are you sure?" 

/Yes. He has nightmares where he remembers your fight, and hurting you, but integrating his memories from both of his selves isn't a smooth process. Any times when Haggar was controlling the clone directly lead to particularly confused memories./ 

Keith nodded, but he still seemed unsure, "So... you think he hasn't talked to me because he doesn't remember it?" 

/I am still learning things, but I know my Captain well. If he remembered that you said you love him, he would have spoken to you about it by now./ 

That might not actually be true, Atlas had to admit to herself. Her Captain, usually happy to tackle any problem placed in front of him, avoided even thinking about his feelings.

"So you're saying I should talk to him?" Keith asked. 

/Yes. He should know that you love him. It would make him happy./

Keith got to his feet, his mind a whirl of thoughts that all centered around one thing - Shiro. 

"I should - where is he right now?" he asked. 

/On the bridge./ Atlas answered promptly. She always knew where her captain was. Keith exited the room and rushed down the corridor.

_ Keith is coming, _ she told her Captain,  _ he wants to speak with you. _

"About what?" Shiro asked. 

Atlas decided not to respond to that. She didn't want to lie to Shiro, but any truthful reply would almost certainly make him upset again, and she didn't think he needed to be upset right before this (hopefully successful) talk with Keith. She withdrew from his mind instead, and Shiro touched the console in front of him, confused. 

"Atlas?"

"Something wrong, Captain?" Veronica asked. 

"I asked her a question and she didn't answer. She doesn't usually do that," he replied, "Atlas, come on." 

She still didn't reply. He would be distracted soon enough, Keith had just turned onto the corridor that led to the bridge.

54 seconds later, Keith walked onto the bridge and Shiro's thoughts became loud and complex, and tinged with anxiety. Atlas wondered if perhaps she had been wrong to tell him Keith was coming. 

"Hey, Shiro, can I borrow you for a few minutes?" Keith asked.

"Of course, Keith, what's up?" Shiro sounded calm, but Atlas could tell he wasn't. 

"I just need to talk to you about something," Keith replied, "Privately." 

"Sure." 

They left the bridge and headed down the corridor to his office. Atlas could tell her Captain was still nervous.

_ It's nothing bad _ , she told him, and retreated from his thoughts again quickly before he could catch her. 

"So... does what you want to talk to me about have anything to do with the reason Atlas is being so squirrely?" Shiro asked.

Atlas had to check the word 'squirrelly' in her dictionary. She didn't think it was accurate to her behavior. 'Furtive,' perhaps. Or maybe 'sneaky', but that had negative connotations that she didn't think she deserved. 

"Maybe. It's because she told me something."

She felt Shiro's sudden panic as he asked, "What - what did she tell you?" 

Keith took a deep breath and said, "She told me that... there are some details you don't remember. From - your two selves reintegrating. So I need to know: what do you remember from our fight? When Haggar was controlling you."

Shiro flinched at the question, but at least the panic drained away a bit, "Not a lot. It's not something I want to remember in detail." 

"Please, I need to know. It's important," Keith said softly, and Atlas knew that he had him. Shiro  _ had _ to answer if Keith asked like that.

"It's mostly like... static in my brain. I get flashes of - of hurting you. Punching you so hard your helmet came off, tackling you, the metal crawling up my arm, and -" he cut himself off, his mouth closing so quickly his teeth clicked together.  


"And?" 

Shiro's guilt was so strong it was like a physical pain as he said, "I remember you screaming, and the smell of your skin burning. It smelled like cooked meat. I passed by the kitchen when someone was cooking hamburgers a few days ago, and I nearly threw up because the smell reminded me..." 

Shiro trailed off, shook himself, and continued, "I'm so sorry, Keith. I haven't said it before, but I'm so sorry."

"Shiro..." Keith reached out and took his hand, "Don't blame yourself for what  _ she _ forced you to do. I didn't ask you about this to hurt you, or make you feel guilty. I asked because... there are some things I think I need to say again, so that this time you remember them."

"Keith..." 

Keith held up a finger, "No, let me finish. I'm not good at talking about feelings and I need to get everything out now while I'm warmed up, or I might not get it out at all. Shiro..." 

Atlas didn't have breath to hold, but it seemed as if she could feel Shiro's breath in his throat.

"You made a promise once. You told me you'd never give up on me. So I won't give up on you, either. I love you." 

Shock was the first emotion that went through Shiro's mind. Then came disbelief, a conviction that he  _ must _ have misunderstood, that Keith couldn't really love him.

"What?" 

Atlas didn't understand why her Captain's first reaction was disbelief, but she knew she didn't like it. She'd been willing to agree, the first time they discussed Keith, that Shiro probably knew more than her about human emotions and relationships, but now she knew full well that he was wrong. Everyone disagreed with the idea that Keith wasn't in love with him, including Keith himself. That sort of thing was, as humans said, 'a dead giveaway.' 

_ I told you, Captain. _

"Atlas, what the  _ fuck _ ?!" Shiro exclaimed, "I told you to -"

"Shiro, don't -" Keith broke off, took a deep breath, then continued, "She didn't do anything wrong. I know you avoid conversations that would upset people you care about, so I thought you were doing that to me. But Atlas told me you didn't remember it, and whether or not you  feel the same, I needed to know that you  _ know _ . You're everything to me." 

"Keith..." Shiro's voice shook as he spoke, "You really...?" 

"I've been in love with you since I was a kid, Shiro."

Shiro was quiet for a moment, then he stepped closer and carefully reached out to touch Keith's cheek with his flesh hand. Keith looked up, moved forward, and kissed him.

Atlas didn't really understand what was so pleasurable about kissing as opposed to any other method of showing affection, but she knew enough to know it was significant. Her Captain's mind was spinning, dozens of fragments of thoughts rotating around Keith at the center.

When they stopped kissing - it seemed to not last a long time to Atlas, but most of her judgment came from romantic movies she'd accessed through the networks, which probably weren't an accurate depiction - Shiro said, "Keith, I - I never thought you would feel the same."

"I thought  _ you _ didn't feel the same," Keith replied, "You've been pulling away from me ever since we started on the way back to Earth. I thought you were trying to avoid hurting me by turning me down outright." 

"I wasn't pulling away from -" Shiro stopped, aware he was telling a lie, and heaved a sigh, "I guess I was. I'm sorry, I just felt so guilty over hurting you, and my feelings for you, and there you were as the Black Paladin, every inch the man I always knew you would become, and you grew so much while you were with your mom and you looked so good, and I didn't know how to handle it all. It was just, well, _easier_ to give myself some distance."

"No more of that, okay? If something's bothering you, then _talk_ to me. Got it?"

"Yes, Keith," Shiro replied, a little sheepishly.

Keith snorted with sudden laughter, and said "So... you left the Black Lion because I was too hot to handle?" 

"Keith!" 

Keith rose up on the balls of his feet and kissed Shiro again, quickly, "Can I take you on a real date tonight?" 

There was a brief flash of worry, and Shiro opened his mouth to give what Atlas _knew_ would be an automatic excuse, even though he wanted to go on a date so strongly it was an ache.  


_ Yes, _ Atlas answered for him, touching both of their minds as she did,  _ I've just cleared your schedule after 6 PM, Captain. _

"My spaceship is a pain in the butt, Keith," Shiro grumbled, but Atlas could tell he wasn't at all angry now.

"It's for your own good," Keith said with a grin.

Atlas did not have a face with which to smile at her Captain, but she made do by turning on the screen nearest to them and putting an image of a smile on it. 

"Oh god," Keith said, "She's learning to use emojis." 

/I'm learning a lot of things./ Atlas wrote. /Today I learned that sometimes I can be right and my Captain wrong./ 

"And you're going to be smug about it for weeks, aren't you?" Shiro asked, shaking his head. 

"Oh, let her," Keith cut in, "It worked out, didn't it?"

Keith kissed him again. They would probably prefer some privacy, Atlas decided, and while it was impossible for her to entirely ignore anything that happened within her, she withdrew most of her attention, letting only 0.9% of one of her processors continue to monitor.

Her Captain was happy, and so was Keith, and that was the essential information. Besides, there were other things she needed to focus on: one of the engineers in Cargo Bay 1 was about to hit a wall with a forklift, and the medbay was running a data analysis which she could hasten.

Her Captain was her priority, but she cared for everyone on her crew. Now that he was sorted out and happy, perhaps she could help out some others? She had learned a lot from this experience, and she'd probably do a better job with any future matchmaking endeavors, but it would never be an area of expertise for her. 

She put a message up on the screens in the bridge, /The Captain will be absent for a few more minutes. He is kissing the Black Paladin, and then they will be planning their first date./ 

Sam laughed, "About time!"

When Shiro returned to the bridge, it was to applause and congratulations, which made him very flustered indeed. 

"Alright, everyone, back to work," he grumbled, "My love life isn't appropriate conversation for the bridge. That goes for you as well, Atlas."

/Apologies, Captain,/ she wrote, without a trace of contrition. 

He patted the console in front of him and whispered, "Thank you, Atlas." 

She sent him a wave of affection, and quietly returned to her usual processes. She had misstepped a few times, but it had all worked out well. She knew she still had more to learn, but that was no hardship. She enjoyed learning. 

And Atlas was learning _so much_ , every single day.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on twitter @illiadandoddity. I'm always looking for more sheith feels to shout into the void.


End file.
